


Guys? Are We A Cartoon?

by Lunarcentric



Category: Metal Fight Beyblade | Beyblade: Metal Fusion
Genre: Benkei isn't fond of his Face Hunter memories, Kenta is embarrassed over his childish behaviors of the past, Post-Nemesis, Slow Updates, characters watch their show, good-hearted fun, post-Metal Fury
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-04-19 11:40:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14236500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarcentric/pseuds/Lunarcentric
Summary: Gingka and his friends find themselves in a mysterious room, with a TV that seems to be showing their journeys in an episodic form.HIATUS due to mental illness.





	1. Episode 1: Pegasus Has Landed

**Author's Note:**

> My sister and I occasionally do this thing where the characters will react to watching their show. I think the first one we did was...the Yu-Gi-Oh Bonds Beyond Time movie, with the three main casts, which then transitioned to them watching the abridged movie, then the GX cast watching Little Kuriboh review their series. (it's possible the BBTs may have been switched, I don't remember). We've also done a few Digimon episodes but that wasn't quite as fun.
> 
> Anyway, I love Beyblade like all heck, so I decided to do something like that in written form for Metal Fusion. I stuck with the main cast for the start, but might introduce others later on? I'm not sure yet. Honestly, this is just for a bit of fun, and I probably won't be taking it _too_ seriously.
> 
> The episode images and descriptions are screenshots I took from Netflix. I grabbed the logo from Google. In the future, chapters will only have the episode image.  
> Bold text is dialogue from the show.
> 
> With that, I hope you enjoy!

_Hey, Madoka! I was wondering if you could gather Gingka, Kenta, Benkei, and Kyoya. I have a surprise for you all at the old Dark Nebula fortress. Try to come as soon as you can! - Hikaru_

* * *

“I told you something was off about that email, but no-oo, you just had to believe it was Hikaru,” Gingka griped.

Sighing, Madoka glanced around the unfamiliar room. The walls were a simple cream, the floor just a basic green carpet. Benkei was investigating the buffet table in the middle, Kenta was circling the large TV screen set up in front of a pair of couches, and Kyoya was trying to find the door.

They'd been trying to find the door for about five minutes now. There weren't any windows, either.

As soon as they'd entered the fortress, the lobby had been swallowed by a blinding light. When they could see again, they were trapped here. No doors, no windows, no ways out.

Her laptop couldn't connect to any networks, either. Madoka had no idea where they were.

“Good news!” Benkei called from the table. He was holding what appeared to be a regular hamburger, reassembled after his examination. “The food smells normal, I don't think it's poisoned!”

“So we don't have to worry about starving?” Madoka glanced hopefully at her friends, trying to brighten the mood a little. Gingka seemed slightly relieved by this, but was still clearly unhappy.

The TV lit up, and Kenta poked his head out from behind it. “I found the power button!” he called triumphantly. “Maybe now we can figure out what's going on!”

Madoka beamed. “Good thinking, Kenta!”

The group gathered in front of the TV, and Kenta began flipping through channels with the remote. From 2 to 51, each was filled with static, until they circled back down to Channel 1 and were greeted with a confusing image:

 

The group turned to Gingka in near unison. He blinked at the screen a few times, clearly trying to comprehend what he was seeing. In the end, he managed, “Is that me?”

In confusion, Kenta flipped through the channels again, but only the one had anything but static. “Should...Should we watch it?” he asked the others.

“It might be our only clue to what's going on,” Benkei mused. “Bu-bu-bull, I say we go for it!”

Madoka nodded in agreement, seeing Gingka do the same. When the others looked at Kyoya for his opinion, he seemed reluctant, but relented, “Let's see what this is about so we can get out of here.”

All but Kyoya settled onto the couches, and Kenta hit the remote's play button. The image gave way to what seemed to be a recorded video, and once it loaded, they were almost immediately hit with an unfamiliar song.

**“Beyblade, beyblade, let it rip!”**

The group was silent as the song and its video played – somewhat from shock, somewhat from confusion. When it was over about 45 seconds later, Kenta paused it at what appeared to be a logo of some sort.

Benkei was the first to speak. “Guys...? Is this a...is this a TV show?”

“About us?” Madoka glanced around, seeing faces just as shocked as she felt. Gingka was the one to manage thought first, musing over the images they'd seen.

“There were a lot of moments with the Face Hunters for sure...and I definitely saw Doji.” He gave his friends a wary look. “Whatever this is, it looks like it's about when I first met you guys. Back when I was trying to defeat Doji and the Dark Nebula.”

“What was that ridiculous song for, is what I wanna know,” Kyoya growled. After a moment of consideration, Kenta suggested, “The theme song?”

“Start it again, Kenta,” Madoka urged. After getting nods from the others, Kenta did so. There was an image showing what was probably the episode title - **Pegasus Has Landed** like before – followed by a bey battle.

**“Go, Sagitarrio! Be the beyblade!”**

Kenta's jaw dropped. “That's me! That's-” He fell silent, then burst out in recognition when the camera zoomed out, “That's the tournament I was in just before I met Benkei!”

“No way!” Gingka leaned forward in disbelief. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah! Look, there's Takashi and Osamu in the crowd!”

After showing a brief image of the stadium from outside, the video shifted to a hillside, then the city. Gingka was now on the screen, and he self consciously adjusted his belts after the way it zoomed in on his beyblade equipment.

“I think you may be right, Kenta,” he commented after seeing the kids run past his on-screen counterpart. “I'm getting serious deja vu right now.”

The video continued like that, showing Kenta's advancement to the third round, Gingka sitting on the water tower (“What the heck were you doing up there, Gingka?!” Kenta demanded. Gingka had no explanation.), Gingka sleeping on the water tower (“Gingka, that's incredibly dangerous!” Madoka scolded.), and Kenta separating from his friends after losing his third-round battle.

“I wonder how those guys are doing now, anyway,” Gingka thought aloud.

Kenta smiled. “Takashi, Akira, and Osamu are helping out around town ever since we defeated Nemesis! I guess you don't see them since you're working with the WBBA so much now.”

**“Check it out! Talk about lightning in a bottle! We have our winner!”**

Kenta went completely red in the face as he realized his childhood daydream was being played out. He tried to skip past it, but the remote had no fast-forward button. Burying his face in his hands, he heard Madoka, “Aww!” and Gingka, “I mean, I guess any blader would dream like that, huh?” but couldn't look at them until the scene was over.

Madoka patted his shoulder. “Don't be so embarrassed, Kenta! After all, you may not be number one, but you are a legendary blader! I think you definitely reached a great spot.”

Still feeling uncomfortable, Kenta could only give a small nod. “Y-Yeah.”

“Jeez Benkei, I forgot how grouchy you used to look,” Gingka commented when their friend came onscreen. Benkei chuckled sheepishly.

“You sure sound a lot more intimidating than you do now, too.”

“Oh, well actually, I did that on purpose, heh! My regular voice isn't exactly scary, y'know?”

Something occurred to Madoka, suddenly. “Wait, you guys were spying on Kenta during the tournament?”

“Ah...well...not Kenta specifically...um...” Being reminded of his past self, Benkei was rather red-faced in shame as well.

“Don't worry about it.” Gingka grinned at him. “It's in the past now, buddy!”

“Bu-bull! You're right!”

Still, Benkei reached over to ruffle Kenta's hair affectionately. “You'll never see me like that again, you got that?”

Smiling a little, Kenta nodded. It was a little easier to watch Benkei's old bullying ways after that.

At Gingka's entrance, Madoka had to comment, “Quite the dramatic, weren't you?”

“Huh? I mean, with guys like that, I figured intimidation was...oh. You're joking. I see that now.”

As Gingka remembered, the five-to-one battle was a quick and easy win. The expressions on the Face Hunters at his point count made everyone chuckle (besides Kyoya, of course), and when the video reached the halfway point – what appeared to be where a commercial break would usually be – Kenta paused it again. “So...I have a question.”

When he had everyone's attention, he continued, “Do you think...I mean, how far do you think this will go? Not just this...episode, but all of it. Do you think it'll cover everything we've been through since meeting Gingka?”

“That's a good question,” Madoka agreed. “We can at least be sure it covers our battle against the Dark Nebula, since Doji was in the theme song. But there was nothing to show it goes past that.”

“Either way, I think it's pretty obvious this is why we're here.” Gingka leaned back against the couch, frowning a bit at the TV. “I'm not sure how I feel about it, but at least it's a break from all the work we've been doing to clean up after Nemesis!”

“Maybe looking back on our journeys won't be so bad.” Madoka was still a little wary, but it would be nice to reminisce. “Although...the description said you went against a hundred beys at once. Is that why Storm Pegasus was so beat up when I met you?!”

“Uhhh....Kenta! Let's get back to the show!” Gingka laughed nervously, hoping to avoid Madoka's wrath.

**“That was awesome, Gingka. Do you mind if I call you Gingka? How about Mr. Hagane? Oh, no, let's go with Gingka. You rock, Gingka. I'm Kenta, by the way. Uh, thanks for helping me. I don't know how to repay you. Let-Let's see what I got here. Uhm... Mm, uh, half a donut? Mr. Froggy Toches? Mm...lint? I got nothing...”**

Kenta hid behind his hands again at his past self, while Madoka politely tried to hide her giggles and Gingka just laughed. Even Kyoya snickered a bit, which was less than comforting.

**“My home is right here.”**

“Gingka, I'm pretty sure you haven't lived on that hill your whole life,” Madoka quipped teasingly. He only laughed in reply.

**“I don't wanna bug you too much. You must be tired. I'll let you rest. Anyway, how can I become stronger like you?”**

“I hate to tell you this little buddy, but I don't think those sentences go together too well,” Benkei chuckled.

“I-I was...I was having a moment, okay? I was really excited about Gingka coming and saving me!”

There was silence as onscreen Gingka talked about the blader's spirit, everyone remembering the moments they'd been touched by it. It was broken, however, when he abruptly fell asleep, and current Gingka laughed sheepishly. “Uh, sorry about that, I'd done a lot of walking that day and uh, I really didn't mean to fall asleep like that!”

The scene shifted, and Kyoya's voice started to speak, catching his attention. Kenta and Madoka both jerked backwards when it showed Kyoya's eye up close, startled; Benkei was nodding as he recalled the scene playing before them. “Mhm, Kyoya was really mad about that, that's for sure.”

**“We're having a get-together. You're invited!”**

Madoka gave Benkei an incredulous look. “You surrounded him in his sleep?!”

“Uhh...I was a very different person back then, Madoka! P-Please stop pointing that out...”

“Mm...I hope you've at least apologized for everything you and the Face Hunters did to him!”

Gingka waved it off. “Relax, Madoka. Benkei made up for it as soon as he found his blader's spirit. I haven't even thought about this stuff in months!”

Kenta nodded. “I mean, the Face Hunters were really scary back then, that's for sure, but Benkei and Kyoya aren't like that anymore.”

Looking at her friends, Madoka eventually sighed. “Yeah...I guess you're right. Sorry, I'm kinda bad with grudges sometimes...”

As the Kenta onscreen went on his search for Gingka, the current Gingka frowned awkwardly. “Sorry about that, again. I didn't mean to freak you out...”

“That's okay. Don't worry about it!”

Onscreen Benkei announced the 100 bey battle, and everyone thought for a moment about the actual size of the former gang. “That's a lot of bladers,” Gingka belatedly realized. “How did you even get that many, Kyoya?”

“It's not like I went looking for them. They showed up all on their own.”

Benkei nodded in agreement. “A few were already hanging around me, but mostly they started popping up after Kyoya settled into the city!”

**“I accept. A hundred bladers or a thousand.”**

“Gingka.”

“Yes, Madoka?”

“Are you insane?!”

“I was confident in my skills, and would still absolutely keep my word to that.”

Madoka groaned, but decided it was probably best to just keep quiet. Even about Kenta going into a construction zone, unsupervised, especially when it was full of Face Hunters.

Good grief, her friends were all crazy.

**“So hurry up and lose. We have brunch reservations.”**

**“Wait. We do?”**

Even Kyoya chuckled at that. Just slightly.

“From all the dramatic close ups he's getting, I'm starting to get the feeling that Gingka might be the 'main character' here,” Benkei realized, as the onscreen Gingka had another monologue about the blader's spirit. “And—is he glowing?”

“They probably took some creative liberties with this,” Madoka suggested. “That's probably a visual representation of his blader's spirit.”

“No, he was actually glowing,” Kyoya corrected her, gaining shocked looks from the others. “It's kind of hard to forget something like that.”

Benkei frowned. “But I didn't see...hmm...well, if Kyoya says it happened, then I'll believe it!”

They sat through some more dramatic close ups of onscreen Gingka setting up his launcher, glowing, and shooting Storm Pegasus. “Isn't that Tornado Wing?” Madoka asked.

Gingka shrugged. “I guess so. At least an early concept? I just asked Pegasus to blow away as many beys as possible at one time. I wasn't thinking about special moves.”

“Oh look, there's Pegasus!” Kenta exclaimed. “That was the first time I saw a bey's spirit! I'll never forget it.”

“Bu-bu-bull! Me neither!”

Watching the beys shoot down at the Face Hunters, Gingka admitted, “I guess I didn't really think through the fact that I could've hurt someone...”

Benkei winced when his counterpart slipped on the beam, but smiled good-heartedly when his friends chuckled at the whimpered, **“Mommy.”**

“What's wrong with your eyes?” Madoka asked in frightened concern when onscreen Kyoya was introducing himself. The current Kyoya considered the scene for a moment, then shrugged.

“Maybe that's how they show who the assholes are. Benkei's are like that, too.”

The group stared at him, speechless for a few seconds, before Gingka burst into laughter. The rest soon followed, the preview for the next episode going on as they struggled to contain themselves. Even Benkei found the humor in Kyoya's comment.

“Kyoya is definitely being played up as the first bad guy,” Kenta agreed through giggles as the ending music started to play.

“How would that have gone, I wonder?” Madoka thought. “If Kyoya was the toughest blader Gingka ever had to face!”

“Doji pulling the Face Hunter strings behind the scenes,” Kenta added.

“I wouldn't object to that timeline,” Gingka admitted. “No stolen L-Drago, no corrupted Ryuga. Though it might be boring, too.”

“You dare call Kyoya boring?!”

“No no, Benkei, that's not what I meant!”

As the two began arguing, Madoka and Kenta exchanged amused expressions. “Whatever the reason we're here, it's definitely an interesting change from the usual saving the world business, huh Kenta?”

“Hehe, no kidding.”


	2. Episode 2: Leone's Roar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> !!! I did it! You guys!! I wrote the next chapter!! I'm so happy right now aaahhhh
> 
> The episode images and descriptions are screenshots I took from Netflix.  
> Bold text is dialogue from the show.

After the group had sampled a bit of the buffet – true to Benkei's inspection, everything tasted normal – they gathered once again by the TV. Channel 1 was once again showing the original image for the 'episode', but when Kenta clicked over to Channel 2, the static had been replaced with a similar picture.

Madoka shuddered. “That's...That's a face there.”

“Just start the stupid thing,” Kyoya grunted. He still refused to sit with them, and was leaning on one of the walls instead.

Kenta started it up, and once again the theme song played. This time, it was followed by a review of the previous episode.

**“Last time, on Beyblade: Kenta, an upcoming beyblader, defeats yet another opponent in his quest for beyblade supremacy. But his success does not go unnoticed. His joy is short-lived when Face Hunters show up, ready to take Kenta and anyone else down with him. Enter Gingka Hagane, a blader without fear. He's got determination and a few tricks up his sleeve. Namely, his bey, Pegasus, a beyblade capable of repelling one or 100 Face Hunters. But one Face Hunter will not go down easily. Kyoya, their leader, must be reckoned with.”**

“He makes it sound so dramatic,” Madoka giggled.

Striking a random pose, Gingka grinned. “I dunno! I think it makes me sound pretty cool.”

“Hah, you wish!”

“Oh wow, those practice stadiums look so small now!” Benkei exclaimed as the episode began, showing Gingka's first meeting with Kenta's friends. “I don't think I could ever go back to one of those!”

Kenta chuckled. “Three beys at once seems so easy now!”

Gingka laughed nervously. “I'm really glad everyone stopped trying to grab at me like that, I always felt super crowded...”

“There I am!” Madoka pointed to herself onscreen. “I knew this looked familiar. That's the first time I saw you two!”

Gingka and Kenta looked at her in surprise. “Really? I never realized you were there...” Kenta admitted. Madoka only shrugged, then laughed sheepishly when he added, “So you followed us all the way from there?”

The scene shifted to the warehouses that the Face Hunters had used, and they were granted privy to Kyoya's past 'training exercise'. Benkei stared awkwardly at his hands, while the others were startled into silence. When the scene shifted again, Kenta paused the video and looked over at Kyoya.

Matter-of-factly, he stated, “You had issues, Kyoya.”

Gingka bit back a snort, while Kyoya shot the boy a glare. However, after his travels with Ryuga, Kenta was no longer afraid of him. “I kinda thought you were totally crazy back then, but this just proves my point.”

The scene that followed was nothing more than Gingka and Kenta's conversation about the town and Kyoya. As the two remembered, however, it was soon interrupted by Madoka's arrival, and the expressions that the on-screen Gingka made were pretty hilarious.

“Hey, my computer doesn't show bones,” Madoka laughed. Smirking, Kyoya added, “I'm pretty sure it doesn't just spit garbled numbers and letters out instead of data, either. It would be a pretty lame computer if it did.”

Pleased, Madoka beamed at him, taking it as both a compliment to her engineering and as a friendly joke.

**“Recently, you haven't been battling just one or two opponents, have you? ...Just how many opponents have you been battling at once?”**

**“Um, I didn't count.”**

The group shared a chuckle at that.

**“Okay. Who are you, anyway?”**

When it cut immediately over to the B-Pit, the laughter resumed. “I really didn't introduce myself, did I?”

“Why would you follow her when you didn't even know her name?” Benkei questioned.

Kenta and Gingka exchanged thoughtful glances. “I think...we were just really curious,” Gingka admitted. Kenta nodded in agreement, “Yeah, pretty much.”

**“This part is my dad's store.”**

“Question.”

Madoka raised an eyebrow at the boys, pausing the video as she realized they were all looking at her. “Um...yes?”

“Where the hell has your dad been these past few years?” Kyoya practically demanded. “I haven't seen him even once.”

“Yeah! We've been over a bunch of times and it's like he doesn't even exist!” Kenta agreed. “What's the deal?”

She hummed a bit in thought, then shrugged. “Well, he can't be there all the time. He's got things to do on his own planet, too. The store's really just a place for him to stay when he's on Earth learning more about humans.”

The silence was long and full of confusion. None of the boys wanted to be the first to speak, to question... _that._ Madoka was either oblivious or tuned it out, standing up to get some more strawberries and humming cheerfully to herself.

As the boys slowly turned to each other to exchange stunned glances, an unspoken agreement seemed to surround them. _Don't risk it. Just keep your mouth shut. Smile and nod._

Onscreen Madoka's initial analysis of Storm Pegasus went without commentary, though did result in Benkei remembering he'd not yet let Madoka do Bull's bi-weekly examination. Though she couldn't do anything with it at the moment, he passed it over to her so he wouldn't forget again.

**“No, no, of course not. It's not like we're married or anything like that. We can spend one night apart.”**

“Gingka, why would you even think of...you know what, nevermind, I don't want to know.”

“What's that supposed to mean exactly, Kyoya?”

**“Okay, married or not, Pegasus is my partner, and where Pegasus goes, I go. If he's stayin' overnight, I'm sleepin' here, too.”**

**“Hoh-kay. I guess it doesn't really matter.”**

“I—hold on, back up.” Benkei waited for the video to be paused, then looked towards Madoka and Gingka with confusion. “After knowing each other for like, ten minutes, you-” he pointed to Gingka, “-decided to sleep at a girl's house without really asking permission. And you-” Here his finger moved to point at Madoka, “-were completely and totally fine with some random new guy sleeping in your place. Am I the only one that sees an issue with your senses of caution and self-preservation here?!”

The two exchanged looks for a moment, contemplating this. Madoka squinted, her words slow and uncertain. “I guess when you put it like that, it does sound kinda weird...”

“I uh, wasn't really thinking about it, I guess,” Gingka confessed. “She was just another blader in my eyes. I was already used to camping out with other people during my travels, so it didn't seem any different.”

“And your dad wasn't even there!” Benkei added vehemently. “You didn't even have any adult supervision! What the hell, Madoka?! You're supposed to be the smartest out of all of us!”

“I'm smart enough to run a shop on my own, you know! Besides, I kept a baseball bat in my workstation.”

Kyoya raised an eyebrow. “'Kept'?”

“I...may have broken it a few months ago chasing off like, three raccoons.”

He grunted in amusement. Meanwhile, Benkei was still eyeing his younger friends with disapproval, but he seemed to elect to keep his remaining complaints to himself.

**“Hey, hey, Madoka?”**

**“Nyeh?”**

A sudden snort came from Kyoya's direction. When the others looked over, he'd covered his mouth with his hand, but he was almost shaking with silent laughter. It took him a few seconds to get a hold of himself. “Did-Did you just fucking-?”

“Nyeh?”

A laugh burst out from their toughest friend, his composure momentarily breaking at Madoka's purposeful echo of her younger counterpart. Benkei's eyes lit up in delight at the simple sight of it, while Madoka grinned gleefully.

Kenta elbowed Gingka before he could say or do anything to ruin the moment. Kyoya was allowed to collect himself again, but he warned Madoka with a not-so-stern, “Don't you dare do that again.”

For the sake of continuing the video, Madoka agreed for the time being.

After onscreen Madoka had promised onscreen Kenta that she would look at Sagitarrio when Pegasus' repairs were complete, the scene shifted. Madoka was now working late into the night, and as soon as the camera moved to show Gingka watching her from the couch, she scoffed. “Why am I not even surprised you were awake?”

“Hey, Storm Pegasus was very important to me! Of course I wanted to make sure nothing bad happened to it!”

**“What?! Is that a booger?! Aw, gross!”**

“For the last time, it was just a piece of candy! Stop nagging me!”

“Gingka, that's the first time I said it.”

“...Oh. Right.” He chuckled awkwardly. “B-But I swear! It's-”

“I know, okay? Sheesh.”

“Heh...”

“...My question is, did you really fall asleep just like that? With all the 'go, Pegasus' mumbling?”

“Um...you know what, I can't remember.”

The scene ended, cutting to what they still assumed was for the commercial break. Kenta paused it, and they all got up to stretch for a bit and pick a few more snacks.

Benkei took the chance to pull Kenta aside, anxiety written over his face. “Kenta, you know you're like family to me, right?”

His brow creasing, Kenta nodded. “Of course I do. I feel the same way, why-”

“You know how badly I want to punch my old self in the face? For all the things I did to you?”

“I—Benkei, what's this about?” Kenta saw the way his friend was fidgeting, the way he was glancing toward the others in fear that they might overhear him. His voice was quieter than Kenta had ever heard.

Benkei bit his lip, embarrassment and fear being added to his expression. Kenta wanted nothing more than to take that away and see his huge goofy smile again. “K-Kenta, I, um...I'm sorry. For...For putting you through what-what we're about to watch.”

Before Kenta could say a word, Benkei excused himself and withdrew to a corner of the room, beyond the TV. Bewildered and concerned, Kenta turned to the others, who seemed equally confused. It was Kyoya who shook his head and decided, “Let's continue without him.”

Though reluctant, they finished gathering their snacks and retook their seats. As Kenta reached for the remote, Kyoya sat beside him in Benkei's former spot, likely to have a better vantage point of the larger blader.

As the video was un-paused, they watched the night turn to day, and Madoka commenting on the progress of Pegasus's repairs. Moments later, the scene shifted to Kenta running through town, Flame Sagittario held tightly in his hand. Without warning, a foot shot out and tripped him – Benkei's.

With a jolt, the events of the day rushed back to Kenta. Kyoya and Gingka's first battle – and Benkei stealing Sagittario. Benkei threatening to drop Sagittario from the top of the tower.

Letting the scene continue, Kenta immediately jumped from the couch, the remote falling to the floor in the process. Madoka said his name, but he ignored her, rushing straight to Benkei. Upon reaching him, he clasped his arms around his friend's waist as tightly as he could. “It's okay, Benkei.”

Though he didn't look up, he heard Benkei sniffle, followed by a quiet whimper. Kenta stayed with him for the remainder of the short scene, after which he heard someone pause it. No one rushed them, though Kyoya walked over to join them and put a silent hand on Benkei's shoulder.

After a few minutes, Kyoya quietly asked Kenta to return to the others, promising that he had this. After giving Benkei a final squeeze, Kenta obliged, exchanging smiles with his bigger friend before moving away.

“Is he okay?” Madoka asked in a whisper as Kenta took the remote from her. Pausing to consider, Kenta decided to nod.

“I think...this is all a big punch to the heart for him. He's changed so much...” Kenta reclaimed his seat, glancing over to where Kyoya was now speaking to Benkei in hushed tones. “It's probably really hard for him to see this stuff. I think he'd prefer if we finished this one without him.”

Gingka nodded, understanding clear on his face. “I agree. He shouldn't have to watch any of this if it hurts him that badly.”

Once they'd all agreed, Kenta let the video play again. They watched Madoka's confrontation with Gingka upon his decision to battle even when Pegasus' repairs weren't finished, and even now, Madoka seemed sour about it. Gingka apologized profusely, if only to cool her temper.

Kenta managed to keep a calm head during the pre-battle scene, even with the visual representation of Sagittario dropping and breaking. He held Flash Sagittario within his pocket, reminding himself that no such thing had happened. The only outburst he allowed himself was an angry growl at the Face Hunters' ways, even though fury was burning inside him.

_Kyoya and Benkei are different now,_ he reminded himself. He only had to turn his head to see the clear differences. The two as their former selves would never have had such a calm, quiet talk in the corner of a room – especially with Kyoya being comforting. They had both come far, and Kenta was proud of them. He hoped they were proud of themselves, too.

The battle was nothing they hadn't seen before, and most of it passed without too much excitement. None of them held entirely fond memories of it, and Kenta found himself simply waiting for it to be over. One of the few highlights was the younger Kenta's commentary regarding Kyoya: **“He's such a stinker!”**

“You look so weird without your scarf,” was Madoka's only contribution. “Older, I guess?”

Kenta shrugged, only giving a grunt of understanding. Gingka, however, seemed to seriously consider the thought.

They all let out a sigh of relief when Sagittario had been picked up by Gingka, and smiled halfheartedly at the younger Kenta's gushing about his win. The boys shared a chuckle over Madoka's scolding as well, while Madoka herself cooed over her younger self's angry pout.

“You know, Gingka, you're really lucky that your scarf didn't get blown off the tower,” Kenta realized. His friend's face turned stricken, as if the thought had never even occurred to him. The way he clutched his scarf protectively was enough to make Kenta laugh for real, though.

The final scene showed Kyoya's fit after his loss, taking place in the warehouse the Face Hunters had called their base.

**“Do you want to win against Gingka Hagane?”**

Their good moods vanished. The voice of Doji was unmistakable, and unforgettable. His shadow, then his silhouette, sparked anger that Kenta had never known himself to hold. The rest of the scene failed to register with him at all, as he tightened his grip on Sagittario and remembered, in an endless loop, Ryuga's sacrifice.

Someone's hand touched his shoulder, and Kenta slapped it away with a growl. At the same time, his anger cleared, and as he blinked he saw the startled face of Madoka.

“A-Are you okay?” she asked. “You were making these weird noises...”

Though he could still feel the rage, it had lowered itself to a passive feeling of annoyance. In his best efforts to not take it out on her, Kenta gave only a silent nod in reply. It had been a long time since his anger had spiked like that, and this was the worst one yet – seeing Doji's image must have been the cause.

Thankfully, Madoka accepted the answer and backed away, giving him space. The others shuffled around, but Kenta spent the next few minutes grounding himself by gently rubbing his thumb across Flash Sagitarrio's pieces.

The next person to approach him was Gingka, and his voice was gentle. “We took a peek at the next episode. Doji's going to be in it, battling Kyoya. But it also shows us... Do you want to sit it out?”

Normally, Kenta would push the episode aside and move on. But, looking at Sagittario, he realized that in this room with no exits, he would have no place to retreat to should the anger become too much. For the safety of himself, and his friends, it might be best if he not see any of it at all.

Taking a cautious breath, not sure if he trusted himself to speak calmly, Kenta needed a moment before he could make the attempt. “I-I think that's a good idea.”

Gingka's smile was supportive, and Kenta appreciated it. As he rose from the couch, he saw Kyoya and Benkei returning, and gave them both the best reassuring smile that he could. Kyoya nodded in return. Benkei mirrored the smile, his own looking as forced as Kenta's felt.

It was no doubt that this would be hard on all of them. Still, Kenta thought the reflection might be good, at the same time.

The others agreed to take a break to sit and talk, unwinding from the tense feelings the episode had brought. Kenta sat with them for a while, then retreated to the area behind the TV to have a little quiet time alone.


	3. Hiatus Explanation

Hey. Does anyone still remember this?

I can explain.

1) Mentally, winter completely screwed me over. And I was getting out of it, but then my anxiety meds decided to give me a relapse of that screwing over, and so to get away from the side effects that were making it harder to life instead of easier, I'm currently with no medication as my doctor tries to find something new for me. I'm dealing with withdrawals that make me constantly lightheaded, and the constant feeling of wanting to cry/tears just pouring out when I read or watch something even slightly emotional. So when I opened chapter 3 today to see if I could possibly get back to it...

The answer was No, Absolutely Not. And the reason for that is very simple.

2) Doji.

Episode 3 is where we officially meet Doji. And that's...look, I hate the guy. He's...I can't...

I didn't even want to write this episode because of Doji before winter, before my meds screwed me over, before this lightheaded BS. Now I look at it and I just want to cry because there's no way I can write this while my head is in this condition. I had no idea that writing a chapter with Doji in it was going to end up in a hiatus spanning over months when I started writing this fic. Just thinking about having these kids react to seeing Doji after all he's done, all I want to do is take them from this fic and set them free so they don't have to re-live what he's done to them.

So...Until my head clears up, and I can look at this project without feeling my gut and heart squirm, I, unfortunately, have to put this story on an indefinite hiatus. I'm so, so sorry. I really thought, when I started writing this, that I could pop out chapters at least once a month, even if I didn't like the episode. And while I really, really want to one day continue this, I just mentally and emotionally can't right now.

I hate that this is the second project that I've had to put in hiatus in less than a month. But...I don't want to look at it. I don't want to think about it. Right now, I think forcing myself to write this will only mess with me further, and I won't take that risk. I know what it's like to not enjoy what I'm writing, and with this, it's not just a lack of enjoyment, it's actual discomfort.

I have to step away. I don't know when I'll be able to come back to this. I hope you understand.


End file.
